PatsDraft.Com

2016
Season Blog.

Pat
Vs Arizona.

7
Things For Sunday.

Part
II.

By
TOM

Greetings
Pats Fans,

First
off I just want to thank all the fans of this site. I have been
promoting my books for sale primarily on this site. As a result, I
have sold almost 500 books in the past year. Thank you for your
support and patronage, both are greatly appreciated. I cannot tell
you how happy it made me when I read that report. So thank you Draft
fans and Patriot fans alike, and mostly thank you to all the fans of
my books and website worldwide.

Part
II.

By
TOM

4.
The Pats D-
The defense did not play as bad as the final results showed, and they
should be better against Tannehill than Palmer. "You definitely can
see Tannehill in the games that he's played in the preseason and then
[Sunday], he does have the ability to change plays, audible, move them
around, check plays based on the looks and try to get them in the best
play possible," Patricia said. "He certainly has a good element
of control over the offense and he's just going to try to, through the
system, get them in the best position possible to stress the
defense." But he is not the veteran that Palmer was.

The
D only let up only 14-points in the first three quarter, and both TDs were
off turnovers caused by the Cards defense, but Tannehill isn't as good as
Carson. "Since he killed us last year? I mean that was pretty
good," BB said about Tannehill. "He's a good quarterback. He's
smart, he handles the offense well, he certainly takes control of things
at the line of scrimmage, as we've seen quarterbacks do in Coach Gase's
offense. It obviously runs through the quarterbacks. It tracks
adjustments, but he's a good decision maker, he's athletic, throws the
ball well. He can certainly make plays out of the pocket. The big drive
that he had in the fourth quarter going, I don't know, 85, 90 yards
against Seattle on the road to take the lead. I mean I don't know how he
could've done any more than that in that critical situation. He's a good
player. He's definitely a problem for us." Though Tannehill might be
a Patriots killer, because he is not as good against other teams.

Tannehill
is good, but he is not Payton, and the Pats are better this year.
"Yeah sure, it's a lot more questions, and certainly with Tannehill
and his ability to run on some boot-passes, the keeps off of the
zone-read, things like that that obviously Manning wasn't doing out in
Denver," BB said. "I'm not saying it's exactly the same. The
core elements I'd say are similar but there are definitely some things
that are unique and specific to Miami's personnel and what he's done down
there. I'm sure there are some things that they're going to do that they
haven't shown yet that we'll have to deal with. But I'd say fundamentally
there's a lot of carryover from when we played them in Denver. But
obviously we'll spend most of our time looking at these about five games:
four preseason games, and the Seattle game, and prepare for what Miami
players [did] and the way Miami executes the offense. Which is similar but
definitely different than what we saw two years ago from Denver."
Beside the 4th quarter of the first Denver game last year, the Pats
defense shut that offense down.

5.
Defensive Explosion-
Simply put this game comes down to our O-line vs the Dolphins D-line.
"Yeah, [their] really good. They added [Andre] Branch, too," BB
said about their front-7. "They've got good depth at end, good depth
at tackle, the linebackers are really fast; Jelani Jenkins and [Kiko]
Alonso. Those guys can really run and they blitz their safeties quite a
bit so between [Reshad] Jones, [Isa Abdul-Quddus] there, even [Michael]
Thomas who plays a little bit in the safety/nickel type of role. They
blitz those guys." They have to give Garoppolo time to throw those
quick passes that killed the Cardinals.

If
they don't than they don't win. "They're very disruptive," BB
said. "The front's very disruptive. Those guys are big, they're
physical, they really penetrate the line of scrimmage, they cause a lot of
holding penalties. They get their share of plays, sacks, tackles for loss,
all of that, but they also get a lot of holding penalties shooting the
gaps there. Guys just can't get ah-hold of them or get in front of them.
They grab them and now its first-and-20 or second-and-20 so I think that's
kind of a part of their game that goes a little maybe under the radar, but
the penalties that those guys draw [is scary]." They have to grab
without holding, and that is not easy against this aggressive D-line.

So
they have to be clean in their blocks. "I mean, there's several of
them every game, and probably several more that don't get called," BB
said about the Holds. "So, we're going to have to do a good job in
that obviously. That was a problem for us in our last game. We need to fix
that but it's tough against this group. They do a good job. They're very
talented up front. They have a lot of depth and they just keep coming at
you." They cannot allow Suh, Wake, or Branch to be the story line of
the game.

Because
their new DC likes to bring them up field all day every Day. "Yeah,
we watch smart coaches," BB said about Vance Joseph. "I mean,
that's the same thing you always get from him. Yeah, I mean it's a
combination of some of the things they did last year, some carryover in
the secondary. Vance came from Cincinnati, which there are some elements
to some of the things that Cincinnati does there with the linebackers up
at the line of scrimmage. There is, again, some secondary pressures, some
blitz-zone, and then the defensive line is obviously a [Jim]
Washburn-style defensive line. So, there is some element I'd say of all of
those factors in there." This is a very different team than the one
we so ineptly faced last December.

The
good news is that our players have some familiarity with their players.
"I think the big thing is to be familiar with who you're playing
against, and then to educate yourself and your players with what they have
done," McDaniels said." It's hard to prepare for everything that
a team could possibly do. A lot of people have coached in a lot of
different spots and they could do anything they want to do on a
week-to-week basis if they chose.

"Sometimes,
it's good to go back and familiarize yourself with where a coach has been
in the past and see some of the things that they've done, especially if
they played against you. There's always that element to it. There's always
that variable that you could go back and just take a look at how somebody
competed against you, what they chose to do schematically, how they
utilized their personnel, whatever it might have been in the past.

"I
think the real important thing this early in the season is to understand
the players that you're playing against, the strengths and weaknesses that
they have, how they play, and then familiarize yourself with what they've
done and what they've shown on film as a group.

"We'll
spend a lot of time watching the games that they've played and getting
re-familiarized with the players on the team. They have some new personnel
in there that we don't know as well as we have in the past with some of
their players. We're going to work hard this week to understand who we're
playing, how they play, and then try to put a game plan together so that
they go out there and play fast on Sunday."

I'm
not ah-scared of their offense. Let's face it, the coaches choked away the
game the last time we played them. So it will be 100% different today. But
I am afraid of some of the names on their defense. Now we don't know how
they are being coordinated yet, and likely neither do they, as neither
offense has been fully schemed this early in the season. So we don't know
what they plan to do with them. But we do know that Joseph is likely to
constantly send the D-line up field to disrupt. So this will be another
new thing we will learn about Garoppolo. How does he respond to a 4-3
defense that consistently attacks up field?

6.
Offensive Explosion-
I think our defense plays better than last week, with the Home crowd noise
behind them, and holds Miami under 17-points. "Obviously we're going
to start with head coach Adam Gase, kind of his background, being on the
offensive side, an offensive coach with Clyde Christensen, the offensive
coordinator," Patricia said. "So kind of the combination of
their experience against us and the way that they've played us with other
organizations they've been at." They do not have a lot of experience
on the offensive side of the ball.

If
you're wondering what they will do, Gase was the OC of Denver last year.
"Adam obviously was at Denver for a long time and we had some games
there where he incorporated an offensive system that changed with the
players that he had, and he was able to kind of take advantage of the best
of the abilities of the guys that were out on the field," Patricia
said. "And then working through his history of being at the 49ers and
Detroit with Mike Martz. So it's quite a bit of experience against us and
understanding how we play and taking a look at the offensive systems that
he's been in that have really influenced him in the way that they've
played us." They will be running a similar offense as Denver last
year. More like what they did with Osweiler than with Payton on a Sunday
morning.

But
the OC likes to run a little bit of a different offense. "And then
Christensen being at the Colts for a very long time and obviously us
playing against them: you can see bits and pieces of all the different
offenses that they run, and I think what they're doing a great job of
right now in just taking a look at the players that they have and
obviously the continuity of skill players that they have of being able to
put those guys in great position to make some plays." Patricia said.
"Certainly Landry is just such a dynamic player for them. He's just a
weapon that they can use in multiple different fashions. They have great
speed at the skill positions. Both [DeVante] Parker and [Kenny] Stills are
very fast players for them." If Parker is healthy, they will go three
wides most of the game.

But
they also want to run the ball with a power running game like the Colts
used with Gore. "The running back position, you know, [Arian] Foster
is very strong," Patricia said. "He's a big powerful runner. I
think what you saw in the game and what you've seen from him in preseason
is a guy that really does a good job with the ball in his hands, whether
that's in the run-game or if he gets the ball in space, just guys that can
make plays. Certainly with [Ryan] Tannehill, a very mobile quarterback, a
guy that adds another threat into the run game. You can see the
quarterback option element coordinated into what they do." Tannehill
just doesn't scare me.

They
also have some weapons at TE. "The tight end situation, Jordan
Cameron obviously is a very good tight end, and Dion Sims is another guy
we have a lot of familiarity with from last year," Patricia said.
"That's two really good players there, so I think he's doing a good
job of really trying to use his personnel and mix in some different
formations and different looks and allow the quarterback to just keep the
offense in a position direction and moving continually down field."
So Tannehill will have more weapons and more offensive minds to help him
this year.

They
will be attacking early and often in this game. "Explosive," BB
said. "They've got a lot of big-play receivers: Parker, Stills,
obviously Landry. They've got a good tight end. The backs are really good.
They have really good depth at running back." So look for Butler,
Ryan, and Cyrus have to have good games again this week.

The
LB will also have to cover the RBs and TEs. "Foster's a very hard guy
to tackle. He has got tremendous balance, gets a lot of yards, can really
run the outside zone play, good receiver. [Damien] Williams, [Isaiah] Pead
[as well. So they've got depth at all of those positions," BB said.
"Tannehill's obviously a guy that can throw the ball well as we've
seen. Also can extend some plays with his running ability, is a threat to
keep the ball, on again, their zone-read package. They run a lot of
bootlegs, a lot of misdirection plays so they keep you honest." I'm
not ah-scared of Foster.

He
has been over rated for two or three years now. "They're probably as
well-balanced as any offense we'll see all year in terms of: run, pass,
inside, outside, strong side, weak side, receivers, tight ends,
backs," BB said. "However you want to look at it there's pretty
good balance with whatever the other components are of the running game,
the passing game, the run-pass ratio, whatever you want." Not this
week in Foxboro against this defense.

The
have an OC for an HC now, so the offense should be different, and it
should get better as the season moves on. "He's very
well-prepared," BB said about Gase. "The teams that he's
coordinated, the units that he's coached, whether it was the receivers
with [Denver], the quarterback position in Denver being the coordinator
there, they've always done their job, played well as a group." So it
seems they have someone who knows what he is doing in charge now.

He
can cause a lot of problems with his play calling. "He's a guy that,
they've got a lot of things that create problems for you," BB said.
"They do a lot of different things to try to attack your weaknesses,
to try to protect their strengths. Tempo is always something that could be
part of the game plan that you have to prepare for, so you know you're
going to face a team that's well-prepared. You know you're going to face a
team that's going to try not to beat themselves and that's going to create
some things that you're going to have to adjust to on game day, so I don't
expect anything less than that this weekend." But I just think our
defense will be ready for it this early in the season.

7.
In The End-
I just don't see how Miami wins this game. And it's not like there isn't a
path to victory for them. That's not what I'm saying. I mean the path is
there for Miami. We are going to lineup Karras and the one-armed Shaq in
front of Suh. That might be the biggest mismatch of the season. If Suh
gets four sacks and/or TFL it is going to disrupt this offense big-time!

What
I'm saying is that the Pats are just too good on defense. The only stat
that matters more then the turnover ratio is the score. The Pats lost that
turnover ratio against the Cards and still won. That victory against the
Cards was so great on so many levels that I think people are under
estimating it.

Now
we don't know what Garoppolo is yet. That great game against the Cards
could be the best game of his career. We don't know. He could have the
worst game of him career this week and throw us out of the game. We don't
know.

But
if that game against the Cards was indicative of an average game for him?
A star was born. Now he should settle in a little more in this game. And
if has an average game the Pats win. They need to own the LOS like they
did against the Cards, or the Dolphin D can make this a long game.

The
Pats defense was playing on a Super Bowl level, until they got gassed in
the 4th. It cannot be over estimated how difficult it is to go 3,000
across the country and win. Teams that do that lose almost 90% of the
time. When you go on the road and lose the turnover battle, teams lose 90%
of the time.

And
Miami isn't bringing out anyone like Fitzgerald to test the Pats
secondary. And! They aren't bringing' anything to the field like Carson
Palmer or David Johnson either. They sent their David Johnson to Houston
(in the form of LaMarr Miller).

The
Pats only gave up two TDs off two turnovers in that game in the 1st three
quarters. I think it is safe to say that if Blount and Garoppolo don't
fumble than the Cards don't score in the first three quarters. The Pats
defense was that good.

Now
they are at Home. Where the Home crowd can make some noise for them. Now
Tannehill will have trouble making the checks, tricks, and audibles at the
LOS against a defense that stifled and confused Carson Palmer for three
quarters, instead of Garoppolo. Plus, the Cards had a more battle tested
O-line. Though I think the Dolphins may have finally built themselves a
very good O-line, but they are still young.

The
Pats defense is going to bring-it to the Dolphins in this game, and it is
going to be fun to watch. This defense is not going to let the Dolphins
win this game. I don't even think the offense has to be as great as they
were last week. In fact, I think they will struggle to be that efficient,
especially on 3rd downs, this week. Not because the Miami defense is so
great, but because it is tough to be that great two games in a row.